


I Know You Know

by 002peach



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Canon Universe, F/M, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-16 12:59:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12343167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/002peach/pseuds/002peach
Summary: Maka figures there was no point in pretending anymore- but as usual, things weren’t always quite as straightforward as they may seem.





	1. Chapter 1

His last message to her said he was about 30 minutes away, finally. Her fingers tapped on the armrest of their sofa impatiently.

She suddenly realized, maybe it would be really weird if he were to come home to just her sitting rigidly upright on the couch, no TV on, staring at nothing. Maybe she should be doing something, or a least pretend she is so can swallow down this sudden flash of self-consciousness. She looked around their living room. She could pretend to pick up that piece of lint off the floor. Maybe she’s oh so casually making a five-star meal, y’know, like she _always_ does at 11:30 at night so he can get something to eat after his long trip back. Maybe she could get a damn grip on herself. She stood up to shake off her embarrassment at herself when the door opened.

“Hey.”

She tried not to look too caught off guard. Probably didn’t work. “Hey.”

He looked at her for second before he gave her a teasing grin. “You didn’t have to wait up for me, y’know.”

Ah, of course. There was no real point in putting up any pretenses. He could probably hear her nervous finger taps oceans away. She shrugged lightly, trying to play it off anyway (this, too, probably didn’t work). “I just wanted to make sure you got home safe. That’s all.”

“I get you. Thanks. Just go to bed if it gets too late though, next time.” With that, he made his way to the bathroom, accidently/on purpose bumping into her shoulder to annoy her. She shot him a half-hearted glare.

She heard the shower running down the hall as she sat in her room, the only light coming in from the hallway through a crack in her door. He had been gone for about three weeks on a meeting with Kid and the other deathscythes, this time over at Marie’s old stomping grounds of Oceania. This was the third meeting over the past six months that’s taken him far, far away (“Real Mission Impossible type shit,” he told her over the phone during his first trip overseas, before confessing he had actually just been binging Married With Children on basic cable at the hotel room: “Maka, I’ve been on call for FIVE HOURS THEY WON’T LET ME LEAVE”), and apparently this was supposed to be the last one for awhile, most likely.

It wasn’t _hard_ being separated, necessarily- really, she thinks after having spent nearly half their lives stuck with each other, they probably needed the reminder that they were, in fact, two separate people. She didn’t even really have a chance to truly miss him either way, as they spoke on the phone every end of the day, and if she concentrated hard enough at night, she could feel him floating around at the end of her mind-scape.

It was more just _off_. Like if she woke up one day and everything in their apartment was the same, just moved five centimeters to the left, so she’d keep bumping her hip into their table every time she walked past. She would take a step back and hit nothing when it should’ve been that obnoxious best friend/shadow of hers. She would close her eyes to try and feel that familiar presence brushing up on the edges of her mind, and he’d be there, but muted. She carried on just fine, of course, she had other things to do than just pine away for someone she was around constantly who normally couldn’t be bothered to leave the house 70% of the time. But the tiny wistful moments that did flutter up every now and then would inevitably culminate into this weird anxiety ritual of being physically unable to do anything else than just wait for him to return. Everything had to be put back into balance, didn’t it? The scales would be tipped for too long with him gone, and Maka Albarn, avid enthusiast of all things organized and balanced, would need things to be put back their rightful place soon enough.

And they were now, or at least should have been. But tonight was still different somehow. Her brows stayed furrowed, her mind still both wandering yet hyper-focused.

The shower had been shut off and she heard footsteps coming towards her room. She really had been dumb to even think to pretend she wasn’t doing anything else but assuring he came home safe. Why did she have to keep coming to the constant nine year realization that there was no need to pretend when it came to them?

Soul cracked open her door slightly to slip in. She sat still against the headboard of her bed, waiting.  
  
Why did she pretend she didn’t already know the answer? Why did she have to pretend he didn’t already know either?

He sat on the edge of her bed, not looking at her. He probably wanted to hide the fact that he looked like death warmed over so she wouldn’t send him off to his own bed immediately. _Guess we both still try to pretend._

“It was pretty much just nothing, as-fucking-usual.” he said. She frowned.

“Don’t say that, these meetings are important.”

“Nothing that can’t be said here. 15 hour flights just to be told Us Good, Evil Bad. Just send me a postcard or something and be done with it.”

She scoffed at this. “I’m 100% sure it’s way more than just that.”

He pouted, the brat. The Last Deathscythe, a literal baby. “Australia’s hot as shit. I mean, it’s hot here too, but goddamn. They had mosquitoes there the size of my palm.”

“So about the size of a fly, maybe?”

“Watch your back, Albarn.”

Everything should be placed back in its rightful place by now, yet Maka still felt like she bumping into her metaphorical table.

A pause. There was content peace on his end, it seemed. She swallowed and broke the companionable silence that had fallen on them. “When I know you’re coming back, I can’t really sleep until you’re home.”

He stretched his arms out, no doubt sore from the plane. Jet lag should be setting in full force soon enough. “I know. Just think you should try anyway.”

Another pause. “I get anxious.”

He grinned. “That excited to see me?”

She fidgeted against her will at this. She knew the options laid out in front of her. Pretend to be annoyed and throw a pillow in his face. Scoff. Anything to downplay the fact that yes, she was in fact very excited to see him. He knew anyway, right? He knew everything. She knew this too, so why kill the fun of showing her hand when she could play it off as a joke, they could share a laugh and he could head back to his room for the night until the next mission inevitably came?

Maybe because she wasn’t really having fun anymore. That she wasn’t really having fun anymore. _That table needs to go back where it belongs_. She was also going to need a better metaphor for this.

What was her next option then?

“I was.”

She could feel him bristle at this slightly, almost imperceptibly, from the way she said this. There was no need for that, she decided. He already figured it out long ago, so why still pretend otherwise?

She caught his stare directly.

“I like you.”

Then came a pause that seemed to last ten years. She swallowed again, but held her gaze.

He coughed. “Um. I know. I like you too.”

“You know what I mean by that.”

Soul was suddenly completely fascinated with whatever was happening on the floor. She lifted herself slightly from the headboard towards him. She heard his breath catch, but he didn’t flinch away.

“Yeah, I know. I’m,” he paused. His eyes flickered up to hers. “I know.”

Then, silence. It suddenly dawned on her she wasn’t entirely sure where she was going with this anymore. The overwhelming urge to just _stop being so weird_ had seized her, but now that is was all out in the opening, she had to think on her feet. She held his gaze still. No reason to stop the honesty train now, she figured.

“I just...don’t see a reason why we need to keep doing this.”

He seemed to consider his next words carefully. “Weren’t there kind of a lot of reasons?”

For the first time in this ordeal, she felt herself blush. She was now tongue-tied, and damn it, she was doing so well!

He smiled softly, breaking the tension. “It’s cool. You don’t explain anything right now. I think we should probably just call it a night for now.” He seemed almost a little too eager to stand up from her bed, but she couldn’t just have him walk away with her plans to restore the Evans/Albarn household balance in its rightful place.

“You don’t-?” she started, before she stopped herself. Why let nerves hit her this hard now? She cursed the universe.

“N-nevermind. I’m sorry for keeping you awake. Good night.”

He looked at her for a moment before almost entirely slipping out of the room. A 20 hour long second passed before he suddenly burst back in, nearly stumbling on his own feet. He looked at the ground sheepishly, acknowledging his shame before he looked back up at her. Maka looked up at him, trying not to look too taken aback (she should’ve known by now, she was no Academy award winner.)

“I like you.” he repeated, the words spilling out rapid fire. Okay. “Do you want to do...something tomorrow.”

She nodded blankly.

“Cool.” He took a step out. Then a step back in again.

“I’m not leaving ‘cause it’s weird or anything. Just. Tired. Long flight.”

“Yeah, they’re...something.”

“No kidding.” A 30 year pause. “‘Night.”

“Good night.” He stepped out for good, turning off the hallway light.

She sat upright on her bed, a cocktail of satisfaction and bone-crushing nerves swirling inside her. Why was this so weird? She already _knew_. She guessed she just hadn’t fathomed actually vocalizing it might have been another thing entirely. Maybe instead of things being in it’s rightful place again, she had just shoved that table out the window now instead. She flopped down onto her bed. _No knowing until tomorrow_ , she supposed.

Before she finally drifted off to sleep, even with this new, unforeseen level of uncertainty, she couldn’t help but smile, for just a moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’ve had this idea floating around in my head for a cool minute now but this was written on a whim somewhat 
> 
> this is also probably the word-iest thing I’ve ever written so......any crits at all are more than welcome hahahejrjjl
> 
> also it says chapters 1/1 but there will be more chapters of this i honestly just don’t really know how to use ao3 too much yet rip
> 
> EDIT: fixed a glaring continuity error loldjfdk lesson learned don't write fic at 3 in the morning


	2. Chapter 2

After last night, she had woken up completely ready to give him her dissertation why it was both Not A Big Deal but also Completely and Monumentally Necessary to tell him how she felt, but Soul seemed much calmer this morning. He woke up around 11:00, looking more or less refreshed and at peace with the world. He greeted her just like he always did, sat down to eat breakfast next to her- he even made some small talk. It should have relaxed her, but it left her more confused than anything else.

 _Must be nice,_ she thought. She fell asleep last night on a hopeful note, but somehow any confidence she had over this being the most sensible things to do flew out the window the second she opened her eyes this morning. The worst thing being, it _still was_. Her mind knew this 100%. Her heart and stomach had yet to catch up.

“So what’d you wanna do today?”

She froze for a split-second. This is what she was waiting for- any sort of acknowledgement at all that he knew last night’s confession wasn’t some weird fever dream on his part. She scanned her eyes over him for a second. No signs of any kind of nerves at all, physically and emotionally. If anything, he seemed maybe a little _too_ neutral. She decided maybe it was best for now to try and follow suit.

“You want to go eat?”

“Yeah, I’m down. Where at?”

Maka kept her face straight as all senses came to burning crash. A question she could have probably answered in a second last Tuesday suddenly became an intense existential quandary- _where at?_ Where does one go on a date? What does one _eat_ on a date? Pizza? Ramen? Burritos? The trifecta of things the two of them normally loved to devour were somehow also the least romantic sounding foods of all.

She might have kept quiet for long, she realized as Soul’s eyebrow quirked up the tiniest bit. _Say literally anything_.

“Chinese...food.”

\---

The two of them sat on the sidewalk outside their favorite Chinese takeout restaurant. Soul picked off at least three pieces of orange chicken off her tray, but she was too distracted to notice.

“What’s your problem?”

She looked up at him, not seeming to realize how long and how intently she had been staring down at her food.

“I think I’m not as hungry as I thought I was.”

“I figured. You normally would’ve shoveled the entire thing down your throat by now.” He snatched an egg roll this time. “You should’ve slit my throat by now too with how much food I’ve been jacking from you.”

She swatted at his arm in a futile attempt to reclaim her egg roll. He kept it out of reach with his stupidly long arms.

“No-good thief…”

“Gotta keep you on your toes. It’s a cruel world out there.”

“Tough words coming from the guy that had a breakdown over Blair stealing your Red Bull.”

“I was TIRED and dealing with your walking anxiety attack of a dad, first of all. Second, stop blaming Blair for shit you did.” He lightly tugged on her pigtail.

“Brat.” Her attempt at a glare morphed into an amused smile instead.

\---

It was a beautiful day to walk around Death City, a day of rare, moderate temperature. It helped ease her mind, a nice breeze sweeping away some of her earlier anxieties. Soul complained about how sunny it was still, but she could feel waves of contentedness flow out of him in the back of her mind as they made their way to go get ice cream together. Maka felt herself relax immensely for a moment. Walking alongside her best friend after three weeks of separation- things felt right again. She enjoyed all her walks alone too, but somehow everything was  always just a little brighter if he was beside her.

 _Oh right_ . She thought. _Feelings._

She had been contemplating over her Chinese food if maybe she had overestimated the implications of this outing. They had gone to eat and now they were getting dessert. Maybe they’d stop by the library at some point for her. A nice outing, but objectively not very special. When was the “date” aspect of all of this supposed to happen? She frowned slightly. He had asked her if she wanted to “do something” right after he told her he liked her. That automatically makes it a date, doesn’t it? Context was important with the sort of vague phrases Soul loved to throw around- “do something” could mean “let’s go on a date”, but it could also mean “let’s go kill this demon serial killer in another country” or “let’s go make sure Black Star doesn’t pick anymore fights with the scary middle aged women watching their kids play basketball against at the park.”

So she figured this had to be the case in this situation. The truth of the matter, she’s been realizing between last night and today, is that when two people acknowledge feelings beyond friendship for one another, many things they may have said a million times before to each other take upon a new meaning, don’t they? No thin veils of hidden meaning anymore. No more contemplating intent and implications. It is what it is.

She feels this could very much be the case, if she and Soul had been in the dark about their feelings for one another. But they weren’t. They hadn’t been for who knows _how_ long anymore.

It’s at this moment, as they’re turning the corner towards their destination that Soul grabs her hand. Her fingers curl around his, the way they had thousand times before. _It’s different now though_ , she thought. Her cheeks glowed lightly.

And yet...it wasn’t.

They made it to the ice cream parlor and he paid for her. _Because it’s a date._ Nevermind the fact he bought her ice cream right before he left for his last trip with Kid too.

_That’s different. We were just friends then. I hadn’t said anything yet._

And yet she had. She had been saying everything and more of what she said last night every single day for years. And he knew this. Every prolonged stare, every accidental-but-not brush of hands (and all the ones with full purpose), every tiny and thoughtful note or deed, every time she brushed the hair out of his face or leaned on him when they were waiting on something or she inched closer and closer to him on the couch until they were almost attached- he knew it all. And he reciprocated in kind.

There was no use in pretense between them. That’s why she knew it had been so dumb to keep dancing around the fact that they liked each other.

How was it then, that somehow actually saying the words out loud simultaneously changed everything, and yet nothing at all?

“MAKA.”

She looked up in shock, vanilla sliding down her hand.

“What is _with_ you today?”

“Are we-?” she started to blurt out, then paused. “Are we boyfriend and girlfriend?”

His eyes widened a bit, and suddenly every nervous feeling he kept behind that wall from earlier spilled out. _Ah_.

“Um...we can be if you want to.”

“I mean...aren’t we already?”

He stared at her, not blinking.

“Is….is this like a test or-”

“You _like_ me, Soul. You’ve liked me since like, _forever_! I’ve probably liked you even longer than that! You—!“ her arms started flailing at this point. Soul took a step back to watch it all unfold.

“We’re on a date, aren’t we?! This is almost exactly what we do like, every other day! If the only qualifier of this being a date and not just us hanging out is the fact that I actually _told_ you how I felt, but we’ve already known since the beginning of time, what was stopping _all of those other hang outs_ from being dates?”

She snatched his hand up to prove a point. His eyebrows had pretty much flown off his head at this point but she paid it no mind. “ _This_ isn’t even new to us! Why is this suddenly so different? We’ve been holding hands since we were like 16; we’ve liked each since like what, we were like 15? Did I really have a near 24 hour long crisis over whether I made things between us even weirder, only to find out we’ve basically been dating already for the past four years??”

She stomped her foot indignantly, seeming almost crazed over this. He freed his hand from hers, putting both on her shoulders instead.

“You really need to chill right now.”

“ _YOU_ CHILL.”

“I HAVEN’T EVEN SAID ANYTHING!”

The owner of the ice cream shop, a kind old man in his sixties, poked his head out the door nervously to make sure his two regulars were doing okay. Soul shot him an apologetic smile, and flipped Maka over to the opposite direction.

“Alright, clearly we’ve got some stuff to talk about. Let’s head home.”

Maka seemed to want to protest, but a sturdy hand on her back and in her mind told her there was no negotiating on this. They walked home in silence.

\---

She sat on the couch, refusing to look at him in the eye. Her head hung in embarrassment. “I’m sorry.” She could feel her face burning up. How did the tables turn on her so quickly and awfully? Three simple words and she feels like she hasn’t stopped being a cliche from the romance novels she’d read to discuss with Tsubaki. In the immortal words of Soul, how uncool.

“I’m being really dumb. I’m sorry.” It hurt her to admit this, but her pride today was already shot dead so what harm was there in a little humility?

He handed her a cup to tea and sat down beside her. “It’s cool.” He looked her over, despite the fact that her eyes refused to meet his fully.

“I just really need you to tell me what’s on your mind.”

She scoffed lightly at this, without malice. “You really need me to tell you at this point?”

“I’m not a psychic, Maka. Resonance can only do so much. It can’t beat out a good ol’ heart to heart.”

She looked up at him finally and frowned. “You hate heart to hearts.”

“Yup. Pretty sure you’re not super crazy about them either. So might as well try and get it over with.”  

Her frown worsened as she turned away again. Soul’s voice softened.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mind talking at all if it’s with you. Anything to make you feel better.”

Her heart thumped lightly at this, a sentiment she knew to be true all this time, but one that still excited her like nothing else. He really did care for her a lot. So she owed him a talk, at the very least.

“I’m just...confused now, I guess.”

“Shocking.”

 “Just shut up and let me talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if the rest of this goes as planned there should be maybe two chapters at most left and this will officially be the first time i've ever finished a full-length fic! i've only ever done one-shots before...this character development
> 
> im a little scared things might be seeming kinda jumbled in this story right now but the next chapter should clear some things up nice n tidy. any all crits are welcome as always though ~


End file.
